Liam Neeson Once Shared Why He Wouldn’t Have Been Right for Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’
Steven Spielberg helped Daniel Day-Lewis score another Oscar win after casting the actor in his critically acclaimed project Lincoln. However, before Day-Lewis, Neeson was heavily sought after for the role. But Neeson quickly had an epiphany that Lincoln wasn’t for him.
How Liam Neeson turned down ‘Lincoln’
Neeson almost collaborated with Spielberg again after their Schindler’s List days. The actor was strongly considered to play Abraham Lincoln in the titular feature. But this went beyond just small talks about doing the feature. In a 2010 interview with GQ, Neeson went as far as to read the script for the movie.
“Steven had approached me to play it—f***, it must be ten years ago. Sent me a script, and I was like, ‘God.’ And he told me roughly when he might want to shoot it, so I started researching. I maybe did four years’ worth of research,” Neeson said.
Neeson shared that he eventually received a revised version of the script that seemed to be similar to the movie Spielberg and Day-Lewis did. Neeson would do a table reading with other actors. And it was here that he realized he might’ve not been fit for the job.
“I want to think it was toward the end of April, Steven got together a reading, and we all sat: Sally Field, John Lithgow. Oh, just great actors. And Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Steven, of course. We started reading this, and there was an intro, and then I see Lincoln: where I have to start speaking, and I just—a thunderbolt moment. I thought, “I’m not supposed to be here. This is gone. I’ve passed my sell-by date. I don’t want to play this Lincoln. I can’t be him,” Neeson remembered.
Neeson would eventually bring his concerns to Spielberg, who obliged the actor’s request.
“Afterward, Steven came over, and I said, ‘Steven, you have to recast this now.’ And he said, ‘What are you talking about?’ And I said, ‘I’m serious. You have to recast it.’ So I went back home, and that night I called Doris, and I had a wee chat with her. And then I called Steven, and I said, ‘Steven, this is not for me. I can’t explain it. It’s gone. It’s not…’ And he got it. He said, ‘Okay.’ And that was it,” Neeson remembered.
Liam Neeson would still like to do an Abraham Lincoln movie
Even though Neeson turned down Lincoln, he would’ve still liked another crack at the historical figure. But he saw himself playing the type of Lincoln movie that Spielberg originally had planned. This would’ve been different than Day-Lewis’ Lincoln, which only covered one section of the former president’s story.
“I’d still like to do Lincoln’s story. As much as I admired the film, there’s all of America and all of the rest of the world who haven’t a f***ing clue who Lincoln is, who he was. I think the film shows him, yes, but I think I’d still like to do an old-fashioned biography of Lincoln,” he said.
Still, the Taken star didn’t regret passing on the role. He seemed more than happy with Day-Lewis’ interpretation of Spielberg’s Lincoln.
“Daniel is—Daniel Day’s an old pal, and I think Daniel maybe had been approached first; I don’t know the history of that, but I was thrilled that Daniel played him, and when I saw the film, I was like, ‘He’s f***ing Abraham Lincoln. This is perfect,” he said.
How Steven Spielberg felt about Liam Neeson exiting ‘Lincoln’
Although Spielberg thought about casting Neeson, he was adamant that Day-Lewis was the only actor for the role. So much so that Lincoln might not have been made without the actor’s involvement. In a 2011 interview with Collider, Spielberg shared what he felt about Neeson exiting the film. Which would later pave the way for Day-Lewis to star in it.
“The planets lined up in a good position, but that was out of my control and not even on my mind, at that the time. At that point, I had just accepted the fact that I would make Lincoln, if Daniel decided to play him, and I would not make Lincoln, had Daniel decided not to play him. It was as simple as that. It had gotten to that point, with me,” Spielberg said.
“So, the timeline was simply that I had approached Daniel first, to play Lincoln, but he turned me down,” he added. “That was about eight or nine years ago. And then, Liam and I had a very healthy flirt about possibly doing it together. And then, we both decided to do other things. And then, I came back to Daniel. So, that’s the timeline.”
